Canada to buy 65 F-35 jet fighters in C$9 bln deal

The C$9 billion also covers weapons, training and equipment. MacKay said media reports of a separate C$7 billion 20-year maintenance deal were wrong and said an agreement would be concluded once the jets started going into production.

i think the price is higher as its just in developmental stage and as there will be a mass production the cost will considerably come down...

Click to expand...

What? JSF order book is already twice than enough to bring the cost down and every potential customer has already ordered. Plus many countries are risk sharing partners in the program which means US is paying less than whole development price. So where is the room for price cut? Considering inflation in mind, i see more increase in per unit price.

thats a crazy price considering the JSF was promoted because the raptor was too costly imagine this is for a partner nation if india ever wants those for the IN IT WOULD COST A FORTUNE

Click to expand...

Navy will not buy this jet because it offers no significant advantage over likes of Rafale as it can't carry even a single medium range anti-ship missile internally. JSF's bomb bays are too small for any possibility.

The debate about the unit price of the Lockheed Martin (LM) F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) continued at the Farnborough International Airshow as the programme undergoes a recertification process initiated in June.

Briefing journalists at Farnborough on 19 July, Tom Burbage, the general manager and executive vice-president for the F-35 programme, maintained that LM was "still on track to deliver a USD60 million aircraft" in flyaway cost terms. An LM official subsequently confirmed to Jane's that this flyaway price included "all mission systems, sensors and auxiliary mission equipment".

However, as recently as March plans were announced for the F-35 programme to be moved from a 'cost plus' to a fixed-price basis. US Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics, Ashton Carter, told the US Congress that the average per-unit cost of the F-35 had substantially increased from USD50 million to as much as USD95 million in 2002 dollars.

Recent pricing data for the F-35's international customers also appears to put the F-35 per-unit cost much higher. In Canada, for example, official documents have suggested that the acquisition costs for the 65 F-35As Ottawa expects to buy will total about USD8.7 billion, giving a unit price of USD134 million.

Canada likely to choose from Lockheed Martin F-35 and Boeing Superhornet over Eurofighter Typhoon and Dassualt Rafale for its new fleet of jet fighters, Reuters reported quoting an unnamed source.

F-35 stealth fighter and F-18 E/F Super Hornet were deemed more suitable for the variety of tasks the military has laid out; Reuters quoted an unnamed source as saying.

While the F-35 had scored well on the various tests laid out by the military, the Super Hornet was almost as capable and had the advantage of being cheaper, the source added.

The choice would mean the elimination of Dassault Aviation SA's Rafale and the Eurofighter Typhoon, jointly made by BAE Systems PLC, Finmeccanica SpA and Airbus Group NV.

The fighter selection has proven enormously problematic for Canada's Conservative government, which in 2012 scrapped a sole-sourced plan to buy 65 F-35s for $8.3 billion after a parliamentary watchdog savaged the decision.

Ottawa is deciding whether to hold a competition or go ahead with the initial plan to buy F-35s, which could prompt accusations that it was acting in bad faith.

â€œFurther delays in a Canadian decision could push any possible order beyond the order window that Boeing would need to maintain the Super Hornet line, now slated to close in 2017. Even if you choose not to decide, you have still made a choice,â€ Richard Aboulafia, analyst with Virginia-based Teal Group told Reuters.